How the Alphabet Works
Letters work together in a systematic way to connect spoken
language to written words. This is the alphabetic principle.
Once they know the alphabetic principle, students can accurately
and automatically recognize familiar words and decode any
unfamiliar words they encounter as they read. In short, knowledge
of the alphabetic principle contributes greatly to fluent reading.
Poorly developed knowledge of the alphabetic principle, on the
other hand, is the most frequent, debilitating, and pervasive cause
of reading difficulty. If students cannot understand and apply the
alphabetic principle, they will find word recognition a struggle,
which will impede comprehension (Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998).
Prior to phonics instruction, students develop alphabetic
knowledge, phonological and phonemic awareness, and learn to
connect sounds to letters. Students develop their alphabetic
knowledge by learning to identify the names and shapes of letters.
To develop their phonological and phonemic awareness, students
learn to become aware of and manipulate the sounds of spoken
English.
Phonics in Open Court Reading and SRA Imagine It! is systematic and explicit.
Phonics is systematic when there is a clear plan of instruction in
which sounds and spellings are organized and taught in a logical
sequence. Phonics instruction is explicit when sound/spelling
relationships are overtly taught using clear directions for
developing these relationships. Systematic, explicit phonics
instruction helps students acquire an understanding of the
alphabetic principle and apply their knowledge to recognizing and
reading words quickly and accurately, which are essential for
fluency and comprehension. Systematic, explicit phonics instruction
helps students:
- Read each spelling in a word to identify the word and then to determine the word's meaning.
- Decode words by blending sounds and spellings.
The level of students' phonological/phonemic awareness is a strong indicator of how successful they will be in learning to read (Juel, 1991). Such awareness improves both the ability to read words and, consequently, reading comprehension. Phonological/phonemic awareness instruction (including oral blending and segmentation) contributes to students' success. Oral blending is key to students' ability to decode (Adams, 1990), and instruction in segmentation contributes to students' success in learning to spell. Students who are aware of how spoken language works are better able to understand that sounds are represented by letters, and are able to attach the sounds to letters as they read and spell words (National Institute for Literacy, 2001; National Reading Panel, 2000).
Word recognition is the ability to associate a printed word with its meaning. As students begin to read, they need to develop effective word recognition strategies that permit them both to identify words effortlessly and figure out the increasing number of unfamiliar words they encounter. Without strategies for reading words, students tend to devote too much mental energy to decoding the words, leaving too little energy for comprehension (Stanovich, 1991).
Connecting sounds to spellings is a crucial first step in learning to read and write. An equally important second step is learning to blend the sounds of spellings into words. Blending is important to early reading success because it provides a strategy that students can use to figure out unfamiliar words on their own. Familiarizing students early on with a particular procedure for blending facilitates reading success (Honig, Diamond, & Gutlohn, 2000).
Conclusion
A thorough understanding of the alphabetic principle is the first
and possibly the most crucial step students take in their challenge
to become readers. Sufficient time and a systematic and explicit
approach to instruction in the alphabetic principle are necessary
to ensure the students' success. Accompanied by instruction in
phonemic awareness and phonics, instruction in the alphabetic
principle lays the necessary foundation.
